Archaeologists Unearth Rare State Seals from 1st Bulgarian Empire

Archaeologists have made a sensational finding on Saturday, dated back to the first Bulgarian Empire (years 681-1018) in the ancient Bulgarian capital of Pliska.

The team of archaeologists found state seals, which belonged to the rulers Simeon and Petar.

The interesting thing is that the seals were found in the base of one of the wooden fortified walls, quite far from the Tzar palace.

The archaeologists unearthed the findings, while they were having excavations at a chain of living and public buildings. The scientists were very surprised when, among the tools, the bone and medal jewelry and pots they found also archbishop and ruler's insignia.

"Our most precious findings are the two lead seals of the two Bulgarian Rulers. One of them has no inscription on it, which by that time was identified with Tzar Simeon at the time when he was not officially proclaimed a tzar. The other seal belonged to his son Petar I and his wife Maria-Irina," archaeologist Pavel Georgiev said.

Archaeologists also unearthed a trench behind the wooden fortified walls, which shows that the Bulgarian military strategists were very well acquainted with the fortification techniques used by the emperors of the Roman Empire.

Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeon's successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever, making it the most powerful state in contemporary Eastern Europe. His reign was also a period of unmatched cultural prosperity and enlightenment later deemed the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture.

During Simeon's rule, Bulgaria spread over a territory between the Aegean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea, and the new Bulgarian capital Preslav was said to rival Constantinople.The newly-independent Bulgarian Orthodox Church became the first new patriarchate besides the Pentarchy and Bulgarian Glagolitic translations of Christian texts spread all over the Slavic world of the time.Halfway through his reign, Simeon assumed the title of Emperor (Tzar), having prior to that been styled Prince (Knyaz).